Juliet

Come on, sun, hurry up and set. I wish some god would whip you forward so the cloudy night would come immediately. Let night wanderers blink and miss us and let Romeo leap into my arms unseen. Lovers can see well enough to make love by the light of beauty, and if they can’t, it won’t matter in the dark of night anyway. If only night would come like a proper widow dressed in black and teach me how to gain something by losing my virginity.

That runaways’ eyes may wink and Romeo

Leap to these arms, untalked of and unseen.

Lovers can see to do their amorous rites

By their own beauties; or, if love be blind,

It best agrees with night. Come, civil night,

Thou sober-suited matron, all in black,

Performance

Lines 1-25

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And learn me how to lose a winning match,

Played for a pair of stainless maidenhoods.

Word Nerd

"maidenhood"

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Hood my unmanned blood, bating in my cheeks,

With thy black mantle, till strange love grows bold,

Think true love acted simple modesty.

Come, night; come, Romeo; come, thou day in night;

(Juliet)

Cover the virginal blush in my cheeks with your dark cloak until the strangeness of sex goes away and this act of true love seems natural and modest. Come on, night. Come on, Romeo, the bright part of my night. Through the dark you’ll seem like white snow on a raven’s back. Come dark and loving night, give me my Romeo. When I die, take him and cut out little stars from him and he will make the night sky so beautiful that the whole world will fall in love with night and forget the garish sun.

For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night

Whiter than new snow on a raven's back.

Come gentle night, come loving black-browed night,

Give me my Romeo; and when he shall die,

Double Entendre

“die”

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Double Entendre

“die”

"To die" was common slang in Shakespeare's day for having an orgasm.

Take him and cut him out in little stars,

And he will make the face of heaven so fine

That all the world will be in love with night,

And pay no worship to the garish sun.

O, I have bought the mansion of a love,

But not possessed it, and though I am sold,

Performance

Lines 26-33

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Not yet enjoyed. So tedious is this day

As is the night before some festival

To an impatient child that hath new robes

(Juliet)

I have a love, but haven’t possessed it, like an empty house I don’t yet live in. I belong to Romeo but he hasn’t taken possession of me. This day of waiting is as tedious as the night before a big festival is to an impatient child who has a new dress and hasn’t had an occasion to wear it yet. Oh, here comes my nurse, and she’s bringing some news. Everyone who reports something about Romeo sounds like they’re speaking in beautiful poetry. Nurse, what is the news? What do you have there? Is that the rope-ladder that Romeo asked you to get?

Allusion

Allusion

A cockatrice is a mythological beast, particularly popular in Elizabethan England, that could kill something just by looking at it—hence its "death-darting eye."

I am not I, if there be such an ‘Ay’,

Or those ‘eyes’ shut that make thee answer 'Ay'.

Juliet

This is torture to my ears and fit only to be screamed in a dismal hell. Did Romeo kill himself? Just say “aye”, and that short sound “aye” will kill more surely than the eye of a basilisk that turns its onlookers to stone. I don’t even want to be an “I” if there is such an awful “aye” in the world, or if Romeo’s eyes are shut and thus make you answer “aye”. If he was killed, say “aye”, and if not, say “no”. The brief sounds in these answers will decide whether I will be happy or sad.

Nurse

I saw the wound, I saw it with my own eyes--forgive my explicitness!--right here on his breast. A pitiful corpse, a bloody pitiful corpse. He was pale, as white as ashes, all splattered with blood, gory blood. I fainted at the sight.

Nurse

Oh Tybalt, Tybalt, the best friend I had! Oh courteous Tybalt! Honest gentleman! I can’t believed I’ve lived to see you dead!

Juliet

What’s this outburst that sounds so different? Romeo’s been killed and Tybalt’s dead? My beloved cousin and my husband whom I love even more?

O Tybalt, Tybalt, the best friend I had!

O courteous Tybalt, honest gentleman,

That ever I should live to see thee dead!

Juliet

What storm is this that blows so contrary?

Is Romeo slaughtered, and is Tybalt dead,

My dear-loved cousin, and my dearer lord?

Then, dreadful trumpet, sound the general doom,

Allusion

“trumpet” and “doom”

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Allusion

“trumpet” and “doom”

The trumpets of heaven will blast when doomsday—the end of the earth—arrives. The reference marks the depth of Juliet's grief. The loss of Romeo and Tybalt would be, to her, as if the world were ending.

(Juliet)

If so, then let a trumpet announce that Judgment Day has come! Who’s alive if these two are gone?

Nurse

Tybalt is gone, and Romeo’s banished. Romeo killed Tybalt, and he has been banished.

Juliet

Oh God! Was Tybalt’s blood shed by Romeo’s hand?

Nurse

It was, it was, alas the day, it was!

Juliet

Oh Romeo has the heart of a serpent masked by the face of spring flowers! Was there ever an evil dragon that lived in such a beautiful cave?

For who is living, if those two are gone?

Nurse

Tybalt is gone, and Romeo banished;

Romeo that killed him, he is banished.

Juliet

O God, did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood?

Nurse

It did, it did, alas the day, it did!

Juliet

O serpent heart hid with a flowering face!

Allusion

“O serpent heart hid with a flowering face!”

[Click to see note.]

Allusion

“O serpent heart hid with a flowering face!”

A serpent hiding under the flowers was a proverbial image, suggesting evil lurking in that which is beautiful.

Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?

Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical,

Allusion

“Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?”

[Click to see note.]

Allusion

“Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?”

In ancient legends, dragons were typically depicted living in caves. Juliet means that Romeo's evilness resides inside his beautiful body.

Dove-feathered raven, wolvish-ravening lamb,

Performance

Lines 73-85a

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Despised substance of divinest show,

Just opposite to what thou justly seemest,

Language

“Just opposite to what thou justly seemst”

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Language

“Just opposite to what thou justly seemst”

The double meaning in this line gives it two possible interpretations:

Romeo is the exact ("just") opposite from what he "justly" or "honorably" seemed.

Just (honorable) opposite from what he justly (exactly) seemed to be.

A damned saint, an honourable villain.

(Juliet)

What a beautiful tyrant! What an angelic devil! A raven with the feathers of a dove, a lamb that devours wolves! What cursed substance hidden in divine appearance! You are the exact opposite of what you truly seemed to be, like a damned saint or an honorable villain! Nature, what were you doing in hell when you put the spirit of a devil in such an angelic form as Romeo? Was there ever such a vile book with such a beautiful cover? Oh how could deceit be found in such a gorgeous place?

O nature, what hadst thou to do in hell

When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend

In mortal paradise of such sweet flesh?

Was ever book containing such vile matter

So fairly bound? O that deceit should dwell

In such a gorgeous palace!

Nurse

There's no trust,

No faith, no honesty in men; all perjured,

All forsworn, all naught, all dissemblers.

Ah, where's my man? Give me some aqua vitae.

These griefs, these woes, these sorrows make me old.

Nurse

There’s no trust, faith or honesty in men. They all lie under oath or deny the oaths they took. They are nothing but fakes. Ah, where’s my servant? Bring me a strong drink. All these sorrows make me feel old. Shame on Romeo!

Juliet

Your tongue should have blisters for wishing such a thing! Romeo is not shameful. Shame could never sit on his forehead because his face is a throne where only honor can reign, and shame itself would be ashamed to be on his face. What an ass I was to criticize him like that!

Shame come to Romeo!

Juliet

Blistered be thy tongue

For such a wish! He was not born to shame.

Upon his brow shame is ashamed to sit;

For 'tis a throne where honour may be crowned

Sole monarch of the universal earth.

O, what a beast was I to chide at him!

Nurse

Will you speak well of him that killed your cousin?

Juliet

Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?

Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name,

When I, thy three-hours wife, have mangled it?

But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin?

Nurse

Will you speak well of the one who killed your cousin?

Juliet

Will I speak ill of my husband? My poor lord, who’s going to clear your name after I, your wife of three hours, spoke like that? But why, poor fool, did you kill my cousin? That poor foolish cousin would have killed my husband. No, go back to where you came from, tears. You should flow at sadness and I’ve mistakenly cried at joy. My husband lives though Tybalt wanted to kill him, and Tybalt cannot kill him now that he’s dead.

That villain cousin would have killed my husband.

Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring;

Your tributary drops belong to woe,

Metaphor

“tributary”

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Metaphor

“tributary”

Juliet's tears flow like a river, or its tributary.

In another sense, Juliet's tears are a metaphorical tribute to Romeo, here referred to as "joy."

Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy.

Performance

Lines 97-127

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My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain;

And Tybalt's dead, that would have slain my husband.

All this is comfort. Wherefore weep I then?

Some word there was, worser than Tybalt's death,

That murdered me. I would forget it fain,

(Juliet)

This is a relief, so why am I crying? The nurse uttered a word worse than “death”--a word that killed me. I would love to forget that I heard it, but it sticks in my memory like a crime a guilty person cannot forget: “Tybalt is dead and Romeo is banished.” That one word “banished” is worse than ten thousand times Tybalt’s death. Tybalt’s death was painful enough on its own. If the news of his death needed to have the company of other miseries, why couldn’t it have been followed by news of my mother’s or my father’s death, which would have caused just the ordinary level of grieving.

But O, it presses to my memory,

Like damned guilty deeds to sinners' minds:

'Tybalt is dead, and Romeo banished;'

That 'banished,' that one word 'banished,'

Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt's death

Was woe enough if it had ended there;

Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship,

And needly will beranked with other griefs,

Why followed not, when she said 'Tybalt's dead,'

‘Thy father’, or ‘thy mother’, nay, or both,

Which modern lamentations might have moved?

But with a rearward following Tybalt's death:

Language

“rearward”

[Click to see note.]

Language

“rearward”

"Rearward" means "rearguard," referring to the last line of soldiers in an army. Here, the rearguard would be one last assault on Juliet's feelings.

But rearward also sounds like rear-word, which would mean the last word.

Romeo is ‘banished,' — to speak that word,

Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,

All slain, all dead — Romeo is “banished”.

There is no end, no limit, measure, bound,

(Juliet)

But to finish with “Romeo is banished” is as horrible as to say they’re all dead--mother, father, Tybalt, Romeo, and me. There’s no end or limit or boundary to the destruction in that word “banished.” No words can express or measure that sorrow. Nurse, where’s my mother and father?

Nurse

They’re weeping and wailing over Tybalt’s corpse. Will you go to them? I’ll bring you over there.

Juliet

They can wash Tybalt’s wounds with their tears. Mine will flow for Romeo’s banishment when their tears for Tybalt have dried up.

In that word's death; no words can that woe sound.

Where is my father, and my mother, nurse?

Nurse

Weeping and wailing over Tybalt's corse.

Will you go to them? I will bring you thither.

Juliet

Wash they his wounds with tears? Mine shall be spent,

When theirs are dry, for Romeo's banishment.

Take up those cords. Poor ropes, you are beguiled,

Both you and I, for Romeo is exiled.

He made you for a highway to my bed,

But I, a maid, die maiden-widowed.

Come, cords, come, nurse, I'll to my wedding-bed,

(Juliet)

Let me have these ropes—poor rope ladder, it has been deceived, like me, now that Romeo has been exiled. Romeo made you to be a pathway to my bed. But now I’ll die a widowed virgin. Come kill me, ropes, and nurse, this will be my wedding-bed. Let death, not Romeo, take my virginity!